The Disciples Made Podcast

Disciples Made
  • 4.9 (14)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Biweekly

What if the Church stopped measuring success by how many people attend and started measuring how many disciples are being made? Welcome to The Disciples Made Podcast, where we help pastors, ministry leaders, and everyday disciple-makers move beyond addition-focused ministry toward a culture of intentional disciple-making and multiplication. Join Brian Phipps, founder of Disciples Made, and Jason Phelps as they explore what it takes to equip people to live Fully Alive in Jesus—growing in Christlike character, discovering and developing their calling, and multiplying their impact through others. Through honest conversations, practical frameworks, and real-world ministry experiences, we explore the leadership, environments, habits, and systems that help churches move from simply managing programs to multiplying disciples. Whether you're leading a church, developing leaders, or discipling a few people in your community, you'll find practical insights to help you take your next faithful step. Because the goal isn't simply more people attending church. It's more disciples making disciples. Learn more at disciplesmade.com.

  1. 4d ago

    S6 Episode 4: Multiplication Takes Time (Building a Spiritual Family Tree)

    Making disciples is not the same as multiplying disciples. You can invest deeply in dozens of people, lead a thriving group, and become a trusted mentor—and still never move beyond one spiritual generation. In this episode, Jason Phelps and Brian Phipps unpack the four-generation vision of 2 Timothy 2:2 and explain why true multiplication begins when the people you disciple start discipling others. The challenge? Multiplication cannot be rushed. As Brian puts it, “Multiplication grows at the speed of maturity.” Jason and Brian explore why leaders can become stuck at the first generation, how the need to be needed can quietly keep leaders at the center, and why releasing people to lead is essential if we want spiritual children to become spiritual parents themselves. You’ll also discover why multiplication may appear slow at first, how Jesus prioritized depth before scale, and what has to change in your leadership when your goal becomes spiritual grandchildren—not simply more people depending on you.   IN THIS EPISODE • The four generations found in 2 Timothy 2:2 • Why making disciples is not automatically multiplication • The difference between spiritual children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren • Why multiplication grows at the speed of maturity • How the need to be needed can prevent leaders from releasing others • Why slow multiplication does not necessarily mean something is broken • What Jesus understood about depth before scale • How coaching replaces taking over as new disciple-makers emerge • The leadership shift from “Who am I discipling?” to “Who are they discipling?” • A practical exercise for drawing your own spiritual family tree   MIRROR MOMENT Draw your spiritual family tree. Start with the people you are intentionally helping follow Jesus. Then ask: Who are they helping follow Jesus? And who is beginning to emerge beyond them? Don’t count everyone you’ve ever influenced. Look specifically at intentional disciple-making relationships. If the page becomes empty after one generation, don’t inflate it. You’ve simply discovered the next design challenge.   TAKE YOUR NEXT STEP If you want to see multiplication happen in your church but aren’t sure how to move from your current culture to a multiplying one, Mission Mapping can help your leadership team get clear about where you are, where you want to go, and the shifts required to move toward disciple multiplication. Start here: https://www.disciplesmade.com/mission-mapping   NEXT EPISODE Are you building a leadership pipeline that produces volunteers—or a disciple pipeline that releases multipliers? They are not the same. This is the Disciples Made Podcast. It’s time to break the addition addiction and start designing for multiplication.

  2. Sep 30

    S6 Episode 3: The Power of Daily Habits (You Reproduce Who You Are)

    What if the habits shaping your church are really the habits shaping you? In this episode of the Disciples Made Podcast, Jason Phelps and Brian Phipps unpack why disciple multiplication starts with the leader before it ever becomes a church strategy. They explore the difference between simply engaging Scripture and actually abiding with Jesus, why repeated practices shape who we become, and how personal rhythms eventually become cultural expectations. You’ll hear why sermon preparation is not the same as personal abiding, why leaders reproduce more through what they embody than what they explain, and how healthy disciple-making becomes reproducible when people learn to hear from Jesus, respond in obedience, and help others do the same. In this episode: • Why you reproduce who you are   • How practices become habits and habits become rhythms   • The difference between preparing from Scripture and abiding in Scripture   • Why church leaders can spend time around the Bible without personally abiding with Jesus   • How personal discipleship becomes church culture   • Why preaching alone cannot create an abiding culture   • What makes disciple-making reproducible   • The question every leader should ask: What is my life currently reproducing? The goal is not to reproduce copies of ourselves. The goal is to help people develop rhythms of dependence on Jesus that form them into His likeness and equip them to help others do the same. This week, identify one rhythm Jesus may be asking you to strengthen—and start there. COMING SOON: BREAKING THE ADDITION ADDICTION This season of the Disciples Made Podcast is built around ideas from the upcoming book Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus. The book is being written for church leaders who want to move beyond simply adding more people, programs, and activity—and build cultures where disciples actually make and multiply disciples. Breaking the Addition Addiction is not available for purchase yet, but throughout this season we’ll be giving you an early look at the principles, stories, and practices behind the book. Learn more about Disciples Made and explore resources for disciple multiplication at disciplesmade.com. It’s time to break the addition addiction and start designing for multiplication.

  3. Sep 23

    S6 Episode 2: Designing for Becoming

    What happens at your church on Sunday morning? That question is usually easy to answer. But here’s the harder one: What is supposed to happen inside a person because they were there? In Episode 2 of Season 6, Brian Phipps and Jason Phelps unpack the difference between designing ministry for attendance and designing ministry for becoming. This season also gives listeners an early look at ideas from the upcoming book Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus. Worship services, classes, groups, student ministries, and serving opportunities can all accomplish their event objectives without necessarily accomplishing a formation objective. The deeper question is not simply, “Did people participate?” but, “Who are they becoming because they participated?” Brian and Jason explore the Disciples Made formation target: Character × Calling = Impact. Character is who we are becoming as Jesus forms His life in us. Calling is how we join Jesus in His work in the places and relationships where He has uniquely positioned us. When those grow together, disciples increasingly become people through whom Jesus impacts the world. In this episode, you’ll discover: • Why attendance and information are not the same as transformation • What makes an Intentional Disciple-Making Environment truly intentional • Why truth must move toward practice, obedience, reflection, and repetition • The difference between disconnected programs and a clear discipleship pathway • How the Explore → Develop → Influence pathway reflects the way Jesus formed His disciples Before your next leadership meeting, take your three most important ministry environments and ask: Who is this designed to serve? What are we hoping they become? How will we know transformation is happening? What is their next step? If you cannot answer those questions clearly, you may have an event—but not yet an intentional pathway. Coming Soon: Breaking the Addition Addiction Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus is an upcoming book for church leaders who want to move beyond simply adding more people, programs, and activity—and build cultures where disciples actually make and multiply disciples. The book is not available for purchase yet, but throughout this season we’re giving you an early look at the principles, stories, and practices behind it. Learn more and stay connected for future book updates and disciple-multiplication resources at disciplesmade.com. Breaking the Addition Addiction is a Disciples Made podcast hosted by Brian Phipps and Jason Phelps.

  4. Sep 18

    S6 Episode 1: You Designed This… or Inherited It?

    Vision Before Strategy Before Tactics You may not have designed the church you’re leading. But you can help shape what it becomes. Season 6, Designing for Multiplication, begins with a question every church leadership team needs to answer: What kind of person are we actually trying to form? Jason Phelps and Brian Phipps explore why choosing a curriculum, launching a program, or changing your groups cannot resolve an unclear vision. They lay out the order that guides intentional disciple-making: Vision first. Strategy second. Tactics third. This season also gives listeners an early look at ideas from the upcoming book Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus. IN THIS EPISODE • Define the destination: Fully Alive disciples growing in both character and calling • Explore the equation Character × Calling = Impact • Learn why culture change begins with a few leaders experiencing transformation themselves • Consider how Head, Heart, Hands, and Habits shape leader development • Examine whether your calendar, budget, and staff time support the disciples you hope to form YOUR NEXT STEP Take one sheet of paper and write three headings: • Vision: What kind of person are we trying to form? • Strategy: How are leaders becoming those people and helping others become them? • Tactics: Do our programs, calendar, budget, and staff time serve that strategy and vision? Bring those questions to your leadership team before redesigning anything. FIND CLARITY WITH MISSION MAPPING Need help finding clarity together? Mission Mapping helps your leadership team examine your current reality, clarify your disciple-making vision, and identify practical next steps. Explore Mission Mapping COMING SOON: BREAKING THE ADDITION ADDICTION Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus is an upcoming book for church leaders who want to move beyond simply adding more people, programs, and activity—and build cultures where disciples actually make and multiply disciples. The book is not available for purchase yet, but throughout this season we’re giving you an early look at the principles, stories, and practices behind it. Learn more and stay connected for future book updates and disciple-multiplication resources at disciplesmade.com. Follow the podcast for the rest of Designing for Multiplication. Next episode: Designing for Becoming—Intentional Disciple-Making Environments that help people grow.

  5. Season 6 Trailer

    Season 6 Trailer: Designing for Multiplication

    What if your church is getting exactly the results it was designed to get? Every calendar, budget, leadership system, ministry environment, and scorecard is already producing something. The question is: Is it producing disciples who can make and multiply disciples? In this trailer, Jason Phelps and Brian Phipps introduce Season 6: Designing for Multiplication—a practical season for pastors and ministry leaders ready to move beyond diagnosing the problem and start intentionally designing for a different outcome. This season also gives listeners an early look at ideas from the upcoming book Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus. Because churches do not accidentally drift into multiplication. Multiplication must be designed for. This season will explore how leaders can build systems, environments, habits, pathways, and measurements that increasingly form people in both Christlike character and Kingdom calling—and help them reproduce that life in others. IN THIS TRAILER Jason and Brian preview conversations around: • Why good intentions alone do not produce multiplication • What your calendar, budget, and leadership systems reveal about what you truly value • Designing for becoming, not merely attending • Why leaders reproduce who they are • The role of daily habits and abiding with Jesus in culture formation • Moving from spiritual children to spiritual grandchildren and great-grandchildren • The four-generation vision of 2 Timothy 2:2 • The difference between an assimilation pathway and a disciple-making pathway • Why churches need to measure spiritual vitality, calling, and multiplication—not only attendance and giving • What makes a disciple-making system genuinely reproducible • How leadership teams can begin mapping the shift from addition to multiplication THE BIG IDEA You do not need to eliminate attendance, programs, preaching, serving, or church growth. But those things must ultimately serve the formation, mobilization, and multiplication of disciples. Multiplication cannot simply be added to the end of your existing system. It must be designed into the system from the beginning. If you are a pastor, executive leader, denominational leader, ministry leader, or someone helping shape disciple-making culture, this season is designed to help you answer the question: “We see the gap. What do we actually build now?” COMING SOON: BREAKING THE ADDITION ADDICTION Breaking the Addition Addiction by Brian Phipps, Craig Watson, and Ed Wilgus is an upcoming book for church leaders who want to move beyond simply adding more people, programs, and activity—and build cultures where disciples actually make and multiply disciples. The book is not available for purchase yet, but throughout Season 6 we’re giving you an early look at the principles, stories, and frameworks behind it. Learn more and stay connected for future book updates and disciple-multiplication resources at disciplesmade.com. Follow the Disciples Made Podcast so you don’t miss Episode 1: You Designed This (...or Inherited It?) And if another pastor or leadership team is wrestling with how to move from addition toward multiplication, send them this trailer. It’s time to stop hoping multiplication happens. It’s time to design for it. It’s time to break the addition addiction.

  6. Jul 22 ·  Bonus

    BONUS: The Power and Pace of Disciple Multiplication with Vick Green

    Most church leaders want to see disciples multiply. But are they prepared for the patience, perseverance, and cultural change multiplication requires? In this bonus episode of the Disciples Made Podcast, Brian Phipps sits down with Vick Green, CEO of Replicate Ministries, for an honest conversation about what it takes to build a movement-ready church. Vick explains why leaders are often drawn to the power of multiplication but struggle to accept its pace. Multiplication begins slowly. It requires deep investment in a few people, long-term commitment, and the willingness to prioritize personal transformation over immediate activity. Brian and Vick also explore the tension between engagement and empowerment. Strategies that make it easier for people to attend, participate, and connect can be valuable—but when those same strategies are applied to disciple-making, they can unintentionally weaken the commitment, ownership, and maturity required for multiplication. In this episode: • The three elements of a movement-ready church • Why every movement is preceded by a season of readiness • Why multiplication moves at a different pace than traditional programming • The difference between activity and transformation • Engagement metrics versus empowerment metrics • Why incomplete scoreboards create incomplete disciples • How to distinguish timeless principles from contextual practices • Why collaboration matters more than organizational competition • How pastors can begin by investing deeply in a few people The invitation is not to abandon engagement. It is to ensure that engagement ultimately leads people toward transformation, ownership, mission, and disciple multiplication. TAKE THE NEXT STEP Begin with the free Disciple Multiplication Capacity Assessment. It will help you identify where your church is strong, where multiplication may be getting stuck, and what your next faithful step could be. Disciples Made is also offering 25 free Mission Mapping Calls for 25 churches. Complete the assessment, and our team will review your results and help you identify a clear, focused path for your church’s next season. Take the free assessment: https://disciplesmade.com/assessment LEARN MORE ABOUT REPLICATE MINISTRIES Discover more about Vick Green and Replicate Ministries, including resources designed to help churches build disciple-making cultures: https://replicate.org It’s time to break the addition addiction. Let's break it.

  7. Jul 6

    S5 Episode 8: Setting the Baseline for Culture Transformation

    What if your church’s next step is not another meeting, another sermon series, or another program — but an honest baseline? In the Season 5 finale of Breaking the Addition Addiction, Jason and Brian bring the entire season to a practical and hopeful landing. This season has helped leaders see the difference between addition and multiplication, name the scorecards shaping their systems, identify the cultural syndromes that stall disciple-making, and face the cost of clarity. But clarity is not the finish line. Clarity is the doorway. In this episode, Jason and Brian unpack why leaders should not rush from awareness straight into action. Before a church can redesign for multiplication, it must first see reality clearly. That is where assessment comes in — not as an indictment, but as an invitation. The Disciple Multiplication Capacity Assessment helps leaders stop guessing, see what their current systems are actually producing, and establish a shared baseline for culture transformation. In this episode, they discuss: Why new programs rarely change old cultures Why assessment is not pass/fail, but a tool for clarity How proximity can create blind spots for leaders Why objective clarity helps teams move from opinions to shared reality What a baseline actually is — and why it creates hope What leaders should avoid after receiving assessment results Why the assessment is not ammo, but a mirror How Season 5 sets up Season 6: Designing for Multiplication The invitation is simple: Lead from reality, not assumption. If this season has stirred something in you, take the next faithful step. Set the baseline. Look in the mirror. Let Jesus bring clarity. Take the Disciple Multiplication Capacity Assessment Learn more about Disciples Made: https://www.disciplesmade.com Listen on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

  8. Jun 25 ·  Bonus

    S5 Bonus Episode: A Rare Opportunity to Take Your First Step Toward Disciple Multiplication

    Throughout Season 5 of Breaking the Addition Addiction, we've challenged some of the most common assumptions about church growth, disciple-making, and multiplication. We've explored the difference between addition and multiplication, examined why programs don't automatically produce disciples, and discussed how churches can unintentionally build systems that reinforce attendance rather than reproduction. But understanding the problem is only the beginning. In this special bonus episode, Jason Phelps and Brian Phipps announce a rare donor-sponsored opportunity designed to help churches move from insight to implementation. Thanks to the generosity of ministry partners, Disciples Made is underwriting up to 25 Mission Mapping engagements (a $750 value) for churches that are serious about becoming more intentional about disciple multiplication. Mission Mapping is a collaborative process that helps leadership teams: • Gain objective clarity about their disciple-making culture • Identify the biggest obstacles limiting multiplication • Align around a shared vision and strategy • Develop a practical 12-month roadmap for growth and implementation • Discern their next faithful step as a church Every church begins by completing the Disciple Multiplication Capacity Assessment and scheduling a Discovery Call. Together, we'll determine whether Mission Mapping is the right next step for your unique context. If you're a pastor, church staff member, elder, or ministry leader who believes God may be calling your church toward greater disciple multiplication, this opportunity was created for you. Key Takeaways Why awareness alone doesn't create culture change The purpose behind Mission Mapping How donor funding is removing financial barriers for churches What the Disciple Multiplication Capacity Assessment reveals Why leadership alignment is essential for multiplication How churches can develop a customized 12-month roadmap The next step toward building a disciple-making culture Ready to Take the First Step? Complete the Disciple Multiplication Capacity Assessment and schedule your Discovery Call today. Take the Assessment Book a Free Discovery Call Only 25 donor-sponsored Mission Mapping engagements are available. If your church is serious about becoming more intentional about disciple multiplication, don't wait. Connect with Disciples Made Website: https://www.disciplesmade.com Explore Next Steps on our Fully Alive App

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What if the Church stopped measuring success by how many people attend and started measuring how many disciples are being made? Welcome to The Disciples Made Podcast, where we help pastors, ministry leaders, and everyday disciple-makers move beyond addition-focused ministry toward a culture of intentional disciple-making and multiplication. Join Brian Phipps, founder of Disciples Made, and Jason Phelps as they explore what it takes to equip people to live Fully Alive in Jesus—growing in Christlike character, discovering and developing their calling, and multiplying their impact through others. Through honest conversations, practical frameworks, and real-world ministry experiences, we explore the leadership, environments, habits, and systems that help churches move from simply managing programs to multiplying disciples. Whether you're leading a church, developing leaders, or discipling a few people in your community, you'll find practical insights to help you take your next faithful step. Because the goal isn't simply more people attending church. It's more disciples making disciples. Learn more at disciplesmade.com.

Information

  • Creator
    Disciples Made
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    92
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Disciples Made Podcast

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